Tag Archives: CHEESE

I promise I did not cook up and shred actual cowboys for this dish. Although the joke in my family is since I have a culinary degree and a forensics degree that I will inspect the bodies and then cook them. Gross I know.

However, one and a half chickens did die for this meal. Sad yes, tasty, even more so. It’s a sick sense of humor kind of a day. I apologize.

So onto the actual food part of this post!!

I have seen so many cornbread topped casseroles lately and they sound good. So decided to experiment and this is what I came up with.

Servings: at least 6, less if you’re really hungry, more if your not

Ingredients:

3 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

1 cup of your fav bbq sauce, I used Sweet Baby Rays Original, divided

2 cans black beans, rinsed

2 cans whole kernel corn, drained

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

2 boxes jiffy cornbread mix, if you are lazy or don’t have cornmeal on hand.**

In a small crockpot place 1/2c bbq sauce and the chicken breasts. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. I did this because I like the consistency of shredded chicken in casseroles. You can also use left over chicken and shred it or cube it up or you can just cube up the chicken and cook it right before you need to use it. However you like, I am sure it will work well.

Preheat oven to 375.

Lightly grease a 9×13 glass baking dish.

In a medium bowl mix up the corn bread batter. Add 3/4c cheddar cheese and stir. Set aside to rest.

In a large bowl shred the cooked chicken. Add the drained corn, rinsed black beans, 1/2c bbq sauce and cheddar cheese to the chicken. Mix until well combined.

Spread mixture into the greased baking dish.

Remix the cornbread batter, about 3-4 stirs is enough. Drop batter by large spoonfuls on top of the base, then spread it evenly across the top.

Bake for about 40-45 minutes. You want the cornbread to be brown but fully cooked. If when you insert a toothpick into the cornbread it comes out clean then turn off the oven and let rest 10 minutes before serving. If toothpick has uncooked cornbread on it but the top is brown, tent with foil and cook another 5-10 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Then let it rest for about 10 minutes before serving.

One of our favorite dips is Cheddar Bacon Ranch dip, or what I refer to as “Crack“. I usually only make it during football season because it is HIGHLY addictive. I only made this once this football season and I forgot to take it to the tailgate. I left it in my parent’s refrigerator! I was devastated!

I took the dip back home and started thinking about what to do with it – other than eat it all by myself. I decided to mix the dip into a big bag of frozen hash browns. The result? A fantastic potato casserole!

Quoted from the blog Plain Chicken on Blogger

Needing to change up the boring meals as of late, I decided to try this out. We had my fiances 12 year old daughter this past Sunday and she is kind of a picky eater. I thought what kid doesn’t like smothered potatoes? So I whipped up a batch of these.

Served with dutch oven braised boneless pork ribs, and peas with butter.

RECIPE:

2 (16oz) containers sour cream

2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

2 (3oz) bags real bacon bits

2 packages Ranch Dip mix

1 large (28 – 30oz) bag frozen hash brown potatoes – shredded kind

Combine first 4 ingredients, mix in hash browns. Spread into a 9×13 pan. Bake at 400 for 45-60 minutes.

Side note… when opening the lid to the dutch oven pot straight out of the oven DO NOT I repeat DO NOT forget that there will be steam!!!!!!! Hence the following picture warning.

I HATE blue cheese. I know hate is a strong word but it’s the only one I can use for my feeling towards this repulsive cheese. So far there are only two foods that I will never like and this is one of them. I have tried it many times and in many different forms. I love cheese but there is something about the pungent aroma that just kills it even before it reaches my mouth and then if oh goodness I happen to consume some…ick!! To me it just has this taste creamy yes but spoiled. Yes I know it’s mold and mold is considered spoiled. I mean really, your not supposed to eat spoiled food right? I eat with my nose and my eyes first and it not only does NOT look appealing but the smell is to me not a pleasant one. I know many of you love this cheese and I have no problem cooking with it don’t get me wrong, but I am not going to eat it myself. The older I get the more foods I keep trying like various seafood, no I don’t like seafood either and I’m originally from New England. There’s just something about blue cheese. I will never like it.

This started a few years ago as a “I have to many bits of leftovers then I know what to do with”.

As I looked in my fridge I saw that I had leftover stuffing from Thanksgiving, leftover chunks of cooked chicken breast and a closer look in the freezer revealed a single chicken breast half (there were two of us so one half is not gonna cut it), some gravy and some broccoli florets.

“Well self” I said, ” lets get to layering”.

I took the stuffing and smoothed it out in the bottom of a casserole dish (probably a 9×5)

Next I took the lone breast of chicken and cut it up into bite size chunks. Sauteed it in a tablespoon of olive oil until browned and cooked through. Then I added the rest of the chicken and heated through.

In a small pan I reheated the gravy, you can also use gravy packets (i use two turkey gravy packs) or gravy from the jar if you don’t have gravy on hand.

I then added the broccoli to the chicken to heat it up. The other night I used green beans and cauliflower. It’s what I had and was very yummy. You can use what ever kind of veggies you like. These three are the only ones I have used to date and they are all excellent.

Turn on your oven to 350-375 to preheat.

After mixture is heated add it to the top of the stuffing and spread evenly.

Top this with the gravy, I just pour it over the top in ribbons. You can also add it to the mix and blend in before you top the stuffing with it.

As a totally delicious addition because if you are like me most things are better with CHEESE!!!

I always have cheese in the fridge, it may be cheating cheese (pre shredded) but it’s still cheese.

I top the whole thing with two cups of shredded yellow sharp cheddar.

Cover with tented foil, so the cheese doesn’t stick to it when it melts.

Place in preheated oven for 45mins to an hour. If you want the cheese brown, remove the foil for the last 15mins of cooking.

Finished product. Time to sit down, relax and enjoy a plateful of this fridge cleaner outer.